Bar owners peeved after Albany changes parade route

Thirteen years after changing the decades-old route of the Albany St. Patrick’s Day parade to send marchers and revelers past the grand opening of a new large bar on North Pearl Street, Mayor Jerry Jennings has changed the parade back it its original route so it will avoid the bar-heavy strip altogether this year.

Jennings made the decision for the parade to conclude on lower State Street because of misbehavior and large drunken crowds on North Pearl in 2011, according to Bob Van Amburgh, Jennings’ executive assistant.

“We witnessed some things that were disturbing last year,” Van Amburgh said Wednesday afternoon. He did not offer examples. In another change, the parade’s reviewing stand will be moved from North Pearl to in front of City Hall, he said.

In 1999, when the route was redirected onto North Pearl instead of finishing at the foot of State Street as in previous decades, Jennings denied the switch was directly related to the grand opening on parade day of Jillian’s sports bar and arcade. Instead, he told the Times Union at the time, overall increased activity on North Pearl prompted the change.

Jennings said, “Now changing the route is good for everyone, and there’s nothing wrong with change.”

Van Amburgh said reverting to the previous route this year was unrelated to the infamous “kegs and eggs” melee uptown on the morning of the 2011 parade that resulted in property and vehicle damage and the arrests of college students as well as a public-relations debacle for the parade. However, because North Pearl is lined with bars and marked the end of the route, it typically thronged with carousing young people on the afternoon of the parade, many of whom had migrated downtown after morning parties.

Bar owners along North Pearl are furious at a decision made without consulting them or any formal notification once it was final. They expect it will significantly lessen their income on what traditionally was one of their busiest days of the year.

“It’s definitely going to hurt us a lot,” said Chris Pratt, co-owner of Pearl Street Pub on North Pearl. He said several other North Pearl owners agree with him and are working on a joint statement protesting the route change. I’ll post it when it arrives.

“It’s going to be a real kick in the teeth,” said Mike Ripley, co-owner of Blue 82 lounge on North Pearl. “Parade day is what we all depend on to be able to pay our (quarterly) sales tax,” due in March, Ripley said.

Tess Collins, a partner in McGeary’s, an Irish pub at the very end of the parade route for 13 years, said the day of the St. Patrick’s parade is financially the most lucrative annual event for McGeary’s.

“I’m disappointed, obviously, ” she said, “and I’m worried it’s going to badly affect bars that have been struggling on North Pearl Street.”

“We believe that the change will have minimal impact on the North Pearl Street bar owners, having built a loyal customer base that returns year after year to celebrate,” said Georgette Steffens, executive director of the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District. “It will also allow for the incorporation of other downtown venues,” she said, including the new Irish American Heritage Museum, which opened in mid-January at 370 Broadway, about a block from the foot of State Street.

The goal in ending the parade on State Street is to send a signal to the community at large that the event is a friendly, safe, all-ages celebration, Van Amburgh said.

“We wanted to reassure families that the parade is for everybody,” he said. “We don’t want to inhibit anyone from having a good time and enjoying the parade, but the behavior of some people when it went down North Pearl was not something we like to see.”

The parade, typically held on the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, this year will be on the holiday itself, March 17, because it falls on a Saturday. It is scheduled to step off at 2 p.m. on Central Avenue at Quail Street, continue east to Washington Avenue, past City Hall and down State Street.

126 Responses

I doubt the route change will have much affect. Two things that WILL hurt bars this year: the fact that holiday and parade fall on the same day, and the decision by UAlbany to have spring break coincide with the parade.

This is stupid on so many levels. Everyone is still going to walk the 100 yards from Eagle Street to Pearl Street and all it is going to do is push the rowdy drunks further up the parade route making the middle of it less family friendly.

I only went down to Pearl Street once, a few years ago, and would never go again. Broken glass everywhere and a general level of intoxication that you really don’t find further up the route. For once the city didn’t wait until something bad happened to act.

I suspect it will still be nasty down there because most of the people I saw staggering around weren’t capable of seeing a parade anyway and only used the event as an excuse.

And why would the city need to consult bar owners over a parade route anyway, unless they’ve been paying for the cleanup.

I am half Irish from my mother’s side and cannot fathom how a parade that is meant to honor the patron saint of Ireland has turned into a drunken free for all. If the parade organizers were serious about the true meaning of this event then alcohol sales would not go during the parade.

Of course this is going to hurt the bars on North Pearl Street. It’s the biggest day for these businesses all year. These owners, regardless of what you think of them, have made a sizable investment in downtown. Nobody else is opening businesses down there. Seems crazy to change the route at their expense. Why not enforce the laws for once?

Also, it’s true that the mayor doesn’t have to consult the bar owners when making this decision. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t. He knows this will hurt them. As mayor you should have the balls to face the very people you are impacting with your decisions especially considering the financial hit the places will take. Man up Jerry!

A good decision, but I think the city could have gone a lot further with it. And lets be frank, its not going to hurt these bars one bit! Its not like people dont know where pearl st is, and it Isnt even a block away from Pearl st! But as long as they can line their pockets down on pearl st they dont give a damn about this city plain and simple! The downtown Albany Bid is one of the worst organizations in this City, and If I run for mayor in 2013 and win, one of the first things I will do is disband it! Its time for Albany to stop trying to live up to being the NO. 1 college party town!!! And addressing the Pearl st issue will go a long way to doing that!!!

The route of he parade was changed years ago. It used to end at the base of Pearl Street but to make bar owners happy the Mayor moved it to end near Jillian’s. Use common sense and save money to pay your bills instead of waiting for 1 day.

This is so disingenuous. The point of St. Patrick’s day is to drink. It has been such for many years. So either A. Admit it and let people celebrate a la Mardis Gras (within limits) or B. Don’t have the parade. While being honest is not something politicians do often, it would be refreshing to see someone say “St. Patrick’s Day is about drinking” rather than “it’s a family-friendly, all-ages event.” It’s not. Jennings may be thinking of Arbor Day or Labor Day. Oh, and you know a primary contributor to student drunkenness? The drinking laws themselves. Lower the age back to 18, stop arresting them for consuming alcohol, and you’ll see greater tax revenues from bars and fewer shady house parties that end up with things being tossed out windows.

Yo! If Occupy Albany can be ousted by the Dept. of General Services and the Albany Police Dept., then drunken college students, et al can be arrested for public intoxication and public lewdness.

Yo! Can the entire parade route. Parade can take place at the Corning Preserve. Make it family oriented without the booze. Why does there have to be an exorbitant amount of booze on St. Patrick’s Day? St. Patrick exported snakes from Ireland. He did not import Guinness.

Yo! Public intoxication and public lewdness should not be tolerated in an All American City or any other city. Be it St. Patrick’s Day, Lark Fest, Veteran’s Day, Columbus Day, etc. If the city can ticket a vehicle for traffic violations, then they can ticket a human for civic violations (like public intoxication and lewdness).

They should seriously rethink doing away with the entire St. Patricks holiday. It has turned into nothing but a validation for drunks so they can have their day in the sun too. It’s time to bring it to an end —- all of it.

What does this city (and this Mayor) have against FUN? Nobody is every happy around here unless all of the fun is sucked out of every event. The parade is terrible to begin with. The best part is the people on the sidelines having fun. I bring my small children every year and have no problem with drunk people having fun. They are not harming my children and I say “look kids, parades are fun, look at all the people having fun.” Maybe this year we can just stand in the cold and clap quietly as Chuck Schumer walks by…WooHoo.

Steve, what’s the story on these “WE RECOMMEND” and “FROM AROUND THE WEB” blurbs that are showing up after individual postings of yours, starting today (I think)? They are very annoying and get in the way.

Anyone who’s been going year after year knows Pearl Street is amateur hour. Everyone that cant handle their alcohol hangs there. There is broken glass and the smell of urine is nasty. That being said, it’s a 100 yards away. That’s not really a deterrent. The folks that like it down there will make the long 2 minute trek 2 blocks away. The ones that dont go there still wont

Since when did bar owners get a say in parade routes? And although this may be coined as making it a more family friendly environment, most of the families know not to go down to Pearl Street because of all the problems in the past.

This is basically a cover excuse for Jerry to not have his “All America City” all over CNN and Glenn Beck again this year for riots and idiotic behavior caused by his reluctance to stand up to slumlords or do any type of real economic development (property tax reductions or credits for purchasing and improving buildings), as well as the scummy bar owners who line his pockets and the police officers assigned to bar detail on the weekends.

Oh and Jen – the problems are in both the student ghetto and Pearl Street. Because when the keg is kicked, they head to the bars. And since Chubbies, the Branch, Paulys Hotel, and Michaels have all shuttered in recent years, Pearl Street has become their new home.

This is an outrage! North Pearl St is the hub of downtown Albany and now the parade is not going to the hub? This will have a negative impact on North Pearl St businesses as this is one of the biggest sales day of the year. The only people this is hurting are the businesses located on North Pearl St.

The City did not notify the local business owners and they absolutely should have! The businesses have to put up with street closings and crowds of people. Many businesses have to pre-order and stock up for this one day. The parade has been taking this route for years and suddenly it changes with no notice?

I’m sure this will help struggling businesses struggle some more.
Great job Albany! Just another disappointment to add to the growing list.

Van Amburgh said: “We wanted to reassure families that the parade is for everybody,” he said. “We don’t want to inhibit anyone from having a good time and enjoying the parade, but the behavior of some people when it went down North Pearl was not something we like to see.”

So let me get this straight. The city is blaming North Pearl St for how the crowd behaved? How about providing more police officers? Did the City think of this? Maybe there wouldn’t be so many unruly people if there was a presence of officers.

Mike Ripley, co-owner of Blue 82 lounge is absolutely correct in stating that a lot of owners look to parade day to pay the (quarterly) sales tax due in March. How are theses businesses going to survive if the City continues to take away events without even consulting those that it effects the most?

The City took the easy way out…let’s blame the street. If we move the parade to Broadway, all of our problems will just go away. No, we don’t need to have more police, we just need a new street name. Nothing bad is going to happen on Broadway. Bad things only happen on North Pearl St.

Once again, the liberals are trying to save us from ourselves. Imagine, with all the economic problems and crime problems in Albany, this is what the “leaders’ come up with!!!!! I can’t go to Albany anymore. As another example of liberal schizophrenia, the city let the occupier stoners break the law and stay in the parks past curfew without any punishment but all the city of albany teachers at certain schools had their cars ticketed/towed for parking violations recently. Where is the consistency in enforcing the laws?

I wont go to ANY of the bars in Albany after 7pm ANY night. Drunken college boys everywhere. Albany has some nice bars but they are ruined by the red bull and vodka swilling, backwards hat wearing, fist bumping PUNKS that cant hold their liquor. Went to Biergarten ONCE. 2 fights and guy relieving himself in the street… No thanks…

“Parade day is what we all depend on to be able to pay our (quarterly) sales tax,” due in March, Ripley said.

Newsflash! Keep your sales tax money set aside to pay the sales tax when you collect it! Don’t spend it all and hope to earn it back on one day. I have got to imagine that Blue 82 is not doing the right thing when collecting sales tax on bills if he needs to make a statement like that.

North Pearl Street is a Cavern of Zeros on parade day. It is disgusting. Hell, if Albany issued appearance tickets on that day alone for open containers, it would probably need less of a state advance on the PILOT payments from the state.

Its about time ! Im sick to death of the surburban and Long island crowd who think it is ok to come into Albany and carry on like drunken fools. Go to mid-town Manhattan on March 17th and see if you can carry on the way these surburban kids do here in Albany on parade day.No way does the NYPD tolerate this kind of nonsense.

The APD needs to start policing period! That riot of last year occured for the sole reason that those kids knew that the APD was lax in street enforcement regarding unruly public conduct. Those kids would never ever have acted in such a fashion while in Manhattan or Brooklyn or Nassau County for that matter. Enough already with the ” party town” attitude at the expense of city residents.

@BoredinAlbany – I agree with you 100%. There’s a real problem in Anglo culture with cutting loose and relaxing. Notice that our version of Carnival happens in New Orleans, and not anywhere else. Continental French influence means people are relaxed and enjoy having fun; upstate NY is very English/Dutch Protestant and about restraint and denying fun to yourself and other people. So conversely I say – you don’t like it, sad, uptight people, then stay home. You don’t like drinking/drugs/fun then don’t have any yourself and let the rest of us do as we please while you wait to die.

This makes ZERO sense, the problems are in the student ghetto not Pearl Street.

Comment by jen — February 1st, 2012 @ 4:48 pm

You obviously weren’t down on Pearl St. last year. People were fighting right in front of the Mayor’s platform in front of Jillians. Too bad, but a bunch of idiot drunk meatheads had to change it for everyone.

Doesn’t matter to me, I’ll be happier with less of a crowd down there. If people really want to see the parade, they can walk the quarter mile uphill.

The parade is not for the bars, it is to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Irish heritage. The fact that they have an increase on parade day is a factor of the day itself, not where the parade ends. No one owes anything to the bars.

Years ago before the parade ended on Pearl we all went to the parade and ended up down there anyway. On top of that, there are always a lot of people that skip the parade and head to the bars while the parade is going on.

North Pearl is a MESS. There are too many bars down there that attract way too many people. And please, it isn’t just college kids or any group in particular. You have way too many different types of people who normally do not mingle that when given alcohol will do some stupid things.

Let the cops start handing out tickets, push code enforcement on the number of people in bars and check for underaged drinkers and things might get a little better down there.

I appreciate the lecture about seperating sales tax from everyone. The point is I pay my sales tax on time and in full and have since we opened in 2005. Steve asked me how this potential loss affects me personally and I told him the truth. I’m pretty sure that I understand my responsibility in regards to sales tax and as long as I pay it, what’s the difference? The point is we count on this day to catch up from the difficult months in January and February. Just like a florist counts on Valentines Day, we count on St. Patrick’s Day. Its really that simple.

The Mayor has made the decision to move the parade route and obviously that means, like everyone, I have to consider the possiblilty that I will take a financial hit. I never said that I wouldn’t be able to pay my sales tax, rather, I said I use that money I make on that day to pay it. I mean its due practically the next day! For six years it was like St. Patrick himself came down from heaven and paid it. It would certainly be a blessing for my family if he comes again.

Jennings changed the route to benefit North Pearl Street bars, now he’s changing it back, obviously because of kegs and eggs, which did not happen on the parade route.

In my experience (15 or so years marching and working as an adjutant to keep the drunks out of the parade and from bothering marchers in my division), the young drunks on North Pearl Street have been kept away from parade marchers by fences and a robust police presence.

The same goes for Quail and Central, where the parade starts and there are several bars.

But those are not places where wise parents would take their children to watch the parade.

People who want to watch the parade without having to deal with young drunks should (and do) watch from bar-free areas along the route — the best place IMHO is the State Education Building steps and the Capitol grounds across the street.

And for most of Central Avenue there are few crowds of any kind, except at the Waterworks.

That said, my experience has been that the young drunks watching the parade are generally, with very few exceptions, non-violent, good-natured, and compliant with adjutants and police who work to control them.

The parade has been a great day for Albany and for the many Irish-Americans in the Capital District for more than 50 years.

It seems the Irish community has forgotten what they were marching for. The first parades in NYC were designed to stop or impede commerce and eventually ended up at City Hall. It became politically astute for the Mayor to review the Parade. The power of the collective Irish Catholic Community would be heard and seen over the nativist and anti Catholic sentiment prevailing in America.
69CSM

Bunch of amateur drunks that will no doubt ruin for the people who are responsible. Doesnt really matter the route, they will stumble to the bars. The BIG problem everywhere is the 18 clubs. First of all, there should be NO club for anyone under 21. Second, Tons of high schoolers get the “good” NYC fake ids and slip into the 21 and over bars and dont tell me the owners turn a BLIND eye! Cops should be out in force to stop these underage kids especially st patty’s day! They drink in the streets, with cups that look like soda or whatever and they are either vodka, or the FOUR LOKO. Catch them all!

Sure do miss the good times at the Plaza Grill when Gary Tenczar and his wife ran it. The parade would end on Broadway near Coulson’s. I remember the year when the parade route changed to not end near his place that he and his father ran since the 1940′s. Our late night bar friends & employees at McGeary’s were sure to benefit from the route change back then, but many people drank there after the parade anyway. After Jillian’s opened, the Plaza Grill’s check must have got lost that was supposed to be slipped under the door in appreciation for their years of financial contribution to the city. I’d bet a few former co-workers from the Plaza Grill would still love to have the chance to stop in for a cup of coffee like Gary always drank, or a cold $2.00 Michelob and shoot some darts, although a few of you are probably still Albany or Nassau Cops. One thing I’ve learned, no matter where you live or work, life changes at least once every five years, and if you aren’t able to accept, adapt and overcome the change, someone else will. Good luck with your parade Albany, and don’t forget to have your beer distributers change the Guiness to Coronas for Cinco de Mayo after the parade, and remember to make way for the King of Beers!

Is anybody else absolutely sick of this city and the way it tries to micro manage the behavior of it’s citizens. Let’s not worry about gentrification. Let’s not worry about the non existent tax base. Don’t concern yourselves with the crack riddled neighborhoods and the fact that you can’t walk safely down 80% of the city’s streets.

Let’s do dumb small town politic stuff. Let’s kill one of the only things the city has left going for itsself. Yeah why would you want people to stick around and spend money after the parade? It can be like the Alvie@ 5 where 90% of the attendees get on a shuttle bus and go back to a nursing home afterward. This is why you don’t get the convention center Big Jer. Your small town can’t pave roads move snow or apparently even have a parade. Straight up jokers

Hey, ease up on Mayor Jennings. He did come up with a brilliant idea a couple of years ago to dress up vacant Albany slums. Paint some white squares on the plywood so they look more like windows. Dang! How can you not think this is genius?!

I thought that they were changing it so that it would conclude down near the Irish Heritage Museum! Makes sense to me! It is not a long walk from State Street to the North Pearl St. Bars…..Better viewing too as you can see the parade come down the hill from the Capital. Half of those Pearl Street Parade watchers were bringing their own beer. I think the bars will be fine! I have been watching the parade on No. Pearl for 20 years! I think it will be a nice change of pace. (And I will have as many pints down there as I ever did)!!

I brought my kids to Tulip Festival and Lark Fest for years… but always thought that the Parade was a bit too rowdy/drunk fest. Note: Lark Fest did eventually get out of hand for us and we skipped it this year for the first time in about 15 years.

Is this not Albany?? Then I would venture to say that maybe or should or from what I have heard in the past, that when the proper amounts be placed in the proper accounts all will be made well….You did notice the story last week about the Mayor trying to grab more power through a another “Governing” Committee last week did you not, and I would suggest that these actions and those actions are surely related….

How is McGeary’s and the Bayou only 100 yards away from State Street? They are maybe 300 yards away if not more.

The start of the parade is usually college students and Pearl St. is a mix of locals and college students. So closing Pearl St. will push all the drinkers on Pearl to State Street where it was very family friendly but it won’t be anymore. Mayor Stupid strikes again.

Do the bar owners really think that their business will suffer because VanAnberg (not the Mayor, VanAnberg runs the show) moved the parade route? Really? The bars will not suffer because the parade route was moved one block away.

The bar owners need to get real, get a life, stop acting like a bunch of blabbering babies.

It’s not just all about the bars, you idiot! There are other establishments on No. Pearl St. So why don’t you take your one-sided mind and lose it. The reason why every business counts on this day is because this is the only time that thousands of people flock to downtown Albany. Perhaps you don’t visit downtown during the week, it is dead! All of the state workers have been laid off or moved. There are no more people in downtown. And yes, we get it, we know that people will walk up the street to go to a bar if they want, that’s not the point. The point is that by modifying the route the businesses are not going to get the good pre-crowd. The crowd that comes to hang out and eat with their friends and family. Also, I’d like to see where all of these people are going to use the bathroom , considering that every business on No Pearl St has previously opened their doors. Maybe everyone can just line up on Broadway and create a shower for the Mayor. Then he’ll know what it’s like to get p!ssed on.

Once again the Mayor and the City show an inability to manage its City and events. If there were proper enforcement of existing rules and regulations, there would not be a perceived need to change the Parade route by the administration. Proper enforcement keeping in mind it is St Patrick’s Day would take care of the few bad elements and send a message to the rest of the party crowd what will and what will not be tolerated. Sadly, this is not how local government works in Albany.

This kind of inconsistency should piss off business owners and should discourage future investment in downtown. Mr. Mayor helped create the Pearl St entertainment district and now does not want to appear to support it for fear of repurcussions come election day – seems cowardly to me. If nothing else, why not alternate the parade route -one year end it at Pearl Street the next State Street and keep it that way regardless of what happens and manage your city. If you are not able or willing, then do not have the Parade. In my opinion, making changes to City events from a reactionary standpoint, is weak and cowardly. What changes are in store for next year’s parade? We, the peole who support downtown and the Mayor will have to wait until after March 17 since City policy is now determined by the outcome of an event i.e. the bad behavior of a few drunks. Job well done Mr. Mayor.

I personally don’t see how any of this is going to do any good. The kegs and eggs riot was nowhere near the parade route and those who are going to drink aren’t going to watch the parade anyway. This is a useless move for better PR.